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Delhi Daredevils (DD) vs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), IPL 2016, Match 26: Sam Billings’ maiden IPL fifty, Carlos Brathwaite’s three-for and other match highlights

Highlights from DD vs KKR , IPL 9 Match 26 at Delhi.

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Sam Billings struck his maiden IPL fifty  © AFP

Delhi Daredevils took on Kolkata Knight Riders in match 26 of the ninth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016. DD, being asked to bat first by KKR, started off on a bad note losing as many as three wickets at the completion of batting Powerplay. It was not before Karun Nair and Sam Billings resurrected DD innings and managed to put up a decent target of 186. In reply, KKR was not to a fluent start, losing wickets at regular interval. It was only Robin Uthappa who showed some resistance but finally gave into the pressure. Uthappa made valiant 72 runs from 52 balls but could not help his side gain the much needed victory as KKR imploded in the final overs. For DD, it was hard-hitting Carlos Brathwaite who struck magic with the ball picking up three top-order wickets. DD gave tough fight to restrict KKR at 159 to hand themselves a 27-run victory.  Vishal Mehra brings to you few hand picked highlights from the match at Kotla. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 26 at Delhi

Kolkata Knight Riders restrict Delhi Daredevils in Powerplay: Being asked to bat first, DD started off badly losing as many as three key wickets by the end of their batting Powerplay. Shreyas Iyer and Quinton de Kock came out looking to bat out KKR’s bowlers but that was not to be with, as both batsmen fell victims to Andre Russell. First to go was Iyer who completely missed the ball that crashed into his pad, handing him his third duck of IPL 9. de Kock was next to go as he top-edged the ball to hand Brad Hogg a comfortable catch. Sanju Samson, who came at No.3, cracked some blistering boundaries only to fall victim to the wily Sunil Narine for 15-ball 15 with DD loitering at 32 for 3.

Karun Nair-Sam Billings partnership: It was the Indo-British pair of Karun Nair and Sam Billings that controlled DD’s innings for the next 11.2 overs. Nair and Billings constructed 1050-run stand for the 4th wicket at an imposing run-rate of 9.26. Nair had earlier made unbeaten 54 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), which would have given him confidence to do an encore of the same. Nair brought up his second fifty of IPL 9 in 39 balls, which included 6 powering boundaries. Sam Billings provided solid support to Nair, who was playing his first ever IPL game. Nair ended up making 68 runs from 50 balls, contributing 53 runs in the partnership.

Sam Billings’ maiden IPL fifty: Sam Billings, who was playing his first ever IPL match, would not have asked for a better start to his DD career. His team was touting at 32 for 3 started off beautifully hitting Umesh Yadav for a boundary in the just the fifth ball he faced. Billings was unstoppable from there on and took apart Piyush Chawla for two crashing fours in the 11th over of the innings. Billings got to his maiden IPL fifty in style hitting Brad Hogg for lofted SIX over long on. Billings departed as Yadav yorked him on a slower ball. Billings made 34-ball 54.

Robin Uthappa’s valiant knock of 73: KKR started their chase on a bad note losing early wickets which was the trend for them throughout their chase. Uthappa stood tall in the face of defeat holding up one end of the crease. Uthappa was both devastating and solid during his stay at the pitch. Uthappa accumulated  72 runs from 52 ball keeping his team in chase all the time. Uthappa scored heavily off the spinners, mainly Amit Mishra picking him for 27 runs facing 14 balls. Uthappa was the third-last wicket to fall, by when all hopes of a KKR victory was dashed.

Carlos Brathwaite’s KKR  middle-order annihilation: After making himself useful with the bat, it was time for him to outshine with the ball. Brathwaite wrecked havoc over KKR’s middle order picking up 3 crucial wickets to make their batting look handicap. Brathwait’s first wicket was the dangerous Yusuf Pathan. who was looking ominous. Nonetheless, Pathan gave a simple catch to Amit Mishra for 9-ball 10. Second wicket in his kitty was Suryakumar Yadav, who was scoring heavily was caught by Iyer. Yadav made a quick fire 21 off 13 balls. Final nail in the coffin was Rajagopal Sathish who made just 6 runs.

(Vishal Mehra is a reporter at CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime, and plays cricket once a white moon. His twitter handle is @vishal_oxyjinn.)

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